Flow In Rectangular Microchannel Research Articles

A Comparative Study of Two Numerical Methods Applied for 3D Liquid-Liquid Taylor Flow in a Microchannel

The laminar nature of flow in mini and microchannels has pushed researchers to develop novel solutions to overcome reaction rate reduction and heat/mass transfer issues. In this regard, Taylor flow is one of the possible solutions that could be used to enhance mixing inside mini and microchannels with reasonable pressure drop. The hydrodynamics of Taylor liquid-liquid flow is numerically studied in this work by employing two different droplet generation methods, specifically T-junction and patching methods. To this end, a three-dimensional model of rectangular microchannel flow is considered. The computational domain was designed and meshed by ICEM CFD and then simulated with commercial software ANSYS Fluent. The interface between the two phases was captured using the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. The generating and development process of water droplets dispersed in an ethylene/propylene glycol carrier phase for both methods is discussed in detail. According to the results, both methods show satisfactory performance regarding liquid film and droplet shape, with only a slight difference. However, the patching method was found to be more economical in terms of computational time. This study would improve the state of knowledge on two-phase flow simulation in microchannels and thus contribute to the understanding of Taylor flow hydrodynamics.

Optimised Electro-Osmotic Flow in Rectangular Microchannels with Smoothed Corners

Electro-osmotic flows are a means of circulating polar fluids through microchannels without resorting to mechanical pumping. The lack of moving parts, of noise and the ease of integration in silicon chips make them an interesting option for microchip cooling and miniaturized total analysis systems. This paper describes an optimization in terms of first- and second-law analysis of the cross-section of a microchannel subject to electro-osmotic flow. Starting from rectangular cross-sections of different aspect ratios, its corners are progressively smoothed and the resulting Poiseuille and Nusselt numbers computed. Performance evaluation criteria are then used to assess the change in, among others, heat transfer rate, temperature difference between wall and bulk fluid, and equivalent pumping power. The entropy number is also computed and the results commented. It is found that the latter criterion highlights a configuration of minimum entropy generation, whereas the trends of the heat transfer and temperature difference are opposite to that of the equivalent pumping power.

Pseudoplastic fluid flow via electroosmotic and peristaltic pumping

This article is concerned with electroosmotic and peristaltic mechanisms to organize the flow of an electrolyte where non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluid model serves as a solvent. The governing equations in two dimension are constructed to explore the electrohydrodynamics in microcapillaries of human body. Debye–Hucklelinearization and low Reynolds' number approximations are employed to handle the arising non-linear differential system. Analytical solutions are derived describing the transport characteristics of non-Newtonian flow in rectangular microchannel. The expression of stream function, pressure gradient, velocity distribution is acquired graphically. Observations indicate that the pressure gradient is greater under both mechanisms than under peristalsis alone. Also the physical quantities can be modified by adjusting the applied electric field and the zeta potential at the surface of arterioles.

Effects of coupling of mass transport and blood viscosity models for microchannel flows

In this study, various aspects of a continuum transport model for blood, which is treated as a suspension of red blood cells, are thoroughly investigated. Earlier, treating blood as a suspension of rigid spherical particles in plasma was reasonably successful in mimicking flow dynamics in microchannels of size 40 μ m , comparable to 4 μ m , the dimension of a red blood cell (RBC). However, it is still not entirely clear whether such success owes to the coupling of mass and momentum transport, or to a sophisticated viscosity model for blood. To understand this in detail, we obtain semi-analytical solutions to the continuum model, in the presence and absence of the coupling of mass transport of RBCs, that connects the hematocrit concentration to the local viscosity, for fully developed blood flow in circular and rectangular microchannels. In this study, the transport of RBCs in flowing fluid is modeled by the diffusive flux model (DFM). Thus, overall, we have a hierarchy of continuum models using various viscosity models for blood, with progressive inclusion of physical complexities. Our results clearly highlight the importance of such a coupled approach, without which the results are quantitatively, and sometimes even qualitatively, different. In addition, our study serves as a thorough comparison of different viscosity models for blood, especially the steady state and transient models, recently proposed by Apostolidis and Beris (2014) and Apostolidis et al. (2015), respectively. We observe that, though the transient model reduces exactly to the description by the steady model over a range of low to moderate shear rates, the transient model shows some differences, especially for the RBC concentration in the low shear rate region. In the semi-analytical framework, the Darcy friction factor and cell free layer thickness have also been computed for circular cross-sections and a range of aspect ratios of a rectangular microchannel. Our results also indicate that the cell free layer attains a constant thickness when the aspect ratio of a rectangular microchannel reaches a critical maximum value for a specified average hematocrit. • Rectangular microchannel flow is investigated by coupling with the transport of RBC. • Even a finely tuned viscosity model without RBC transport is shown to be inadequate. • Frictional characteristics are derived in the form of a semi-analytical solution. • The model is found to predict the cell free layer thickness quite well. • The steady viscosity model overpredicts WSS when compared to the transient model.

Experimental study of Taylor bubble flow in non-Newtonian liquid in a rectangular microchannel

The flow characteristics of gas and non-Newtonian fluid in a rectangular T-microchannel with cross section of 150 μm × 50 μm are experimentally studied. Four flow patterns are observed, including bubble flow, Taylor flow, transitional flow and annular flow. The effects of two-phase flowrate, the CMC/SDS concentration, and microchannel size on the flow pattern maps and Taylor bubble/liquid slug length are compared. The bubble length increases with gas/liquid flowrates ratio, whilst the change of slug length is opposite. The bubble length decreases with liquid viscosity or surface tension. The slug length increases with the liquid viscosity, but decreases with surface tension. Experimental data is analyzed in relationship to JG/JL, Re and Ca using dimensional analysis. Two empirical equations are given respectively to predict the Taylor bubble/slug lengths. Predictions are largely consistent with the experimental results with maximum 25% variance. This provides an important reference for the controllable operation of two-phase flow in rectangular microchannels.

Modelling corners flow in rectangular microchannel

Rectangular microchannels are most common configuration in microfluidics. They can be used in many industries, for example in lab-on-chip devices. Despite standard fluid dynamics, microfluidics has a significant impact of wall boundary conditions on fluid flow. And in microfluidics, we cannot simply set no-slip boundary conditions if our goal is accurate modeling results. In rectangular microchannels, there is another important moment in modeling that is not present in circular pipes. The velocity profile of the fluid depends on the shear stress at the edges and the velocities at the walls of the microchannel change at different points of the cross-sectional wall of the microchannel. The fluid velocity is lower at the corners of a rectangular microchannel. In this paper, a solution is proposed to find a more accurate way to model the fluid flow in a rectangular microchannel by knowing the friction factor without shear stress distribution.

Application of the laser-induced fluorescence to study local characteristics of a gas-liquid flow in rectangular microchannel

The Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) method was used to characterize liquid phase distribution in rectangular slit microchannel with cross-section 200×1205 μm for horizontal gas-liquid flow. Ethanol and nitrogen were used as working liquid and gas accordingly. The feature of this study is an application of hydraulic focusing cross-junction mixer for obtaining elongated bubble and transition flows in the microchannel with a high aspect ratio. Using LIF measurements for elongated bubble and transition flows the liquid film distributions were obtained for different distances from the bubble top and average liquid film thickness was compared with the prediction according to Taylor’s law.

Effect of aspect ratio and inlet manifold shape on the laminar-to-turbulent transition of gas flow in rectangular microchannels

A combined experimental and numerical study on the laminar-to-turbulent transition in microchannels using gas flow is presented. The effects of two geometric parameters, namely aspect ratio (height to width) of microchannels and inlet manifold shape, are considered on the value assumed by the critical Reynolds number linked to the laminar-to-turbulent transition. To study the effect of aspect ratio, seven rectangular microchannels having an aspect ratio between 0.25 and 1.04 are micro-milled in PMMA plastic with a constant length of 100 mm. Four rectangular microchannels with different inlet shapes, namely sudden contraction, rounded entrance, V shape and bellmouth, are fabricated to analyze the effects of inlet shape. Pressure loss analyses are then performed for all 11 microchannels by evaluating both average and semi-local friction factors. The Reynolds number in correspondence of which the transition takes place is determined by observing the trend of the friction factor. In parallel, numerical simulations using an intermittency-based transitional turbulence model are also performed and results are compared with the experiments. Experimental and numerical results have demonstrated that both of the investigated geometrical characteristics (aspect ratio and inlet manifold shape) play an important role on the range of the Reynolds number between the onset of transition and the onset of fully turbulent regime for gas microflows. Experimental critical Reynolds numbers show a good agreement with the predictions of the conventional theory and are in the range of 1863–3470 for all the tested microchannels. The role of gas compressibility on the laminar-to-turbulent transition is also discussed.Graphic abstract

Experimental study of gas-liquid flow in a rectangular microchannel using LIF method

This paper aims at experimental study of gas-liquid flow in a horizontal rectangular hydrophilic microchannel with a cross-section of 200×400 μm. The ethanol and nitrogen are used as working liquids and gas accordingly in the microchannel with crossflow T-mixer at the channel inlet. Experimental data are obtained using high-speed visualization, laser flow scanning, and LIF method. The elongated bubble flow and transition flow are observed in the hydrophilic rectangular microchannel depending on gas and liquid flow rates. Using the LIF method, the non-uniform liquid film distribution is observed in the channel cross-section. The liquid film thickness is measured for elongated bubble flow and transition flow and compared with the Taylor law.

Synchronization and control of capillary flows in rectangular microchannel with spacers.

Liquid control in microchannels is quite important in microfluidic devices used in, for example, lab-on-a-chip and point-of-care applications. Capillary microfluidics, being self-powered, is especially advantageous for use in passive devices, and has attracted significant attention. In this paper, capillary flows in rectangular microchannels with spacers are studied experimentally and theoretically; in particular, capillary flow synchronization (or waiting) behavior is identified and investigated. Based on changes of channel walls, two basic synchronization modes are proposed for flows isolated by spacers in a channel. Experimental results show that the velocities of faster capillary flows are reduced by the liquid pinning effect and that the time delay between two capillary flows is automatically balanced. The synchronization behavior of capillary flows is explained by analyzing the time delay, contact angle variation, and capillary forces. In addition, the quantity of liquid flowing out of the waiting channels is estimated and verified. Then a model for the change in contact angle during synchronization is derived and verified. Finally, we conceive a series of studies of the control of capillary flows for different spacer designs and conduct an experiment to study the dynamic behaviors of a number of capillary flows by adding many spacers in a microchannel. This study expands the applications of capillary microfluidics.

Heat transfer characteristics of thermally developing flow in rectangular microchannels with constant wall temperature

Heat transfer at the thermal entrance region of rectangular microchannels is investigated for hydrodynamically fully developed but thermally developing flow with constant wall temperature. The effects of Reynolds number and aspect ratio on heat transfer properties have been calculated numerically. The local Nusselt number is found to be quite sensitive to the Reynolds number, especially for small Reynolds numbers. The slope of the Nusselt number curve is steeper with a lower Reynolds number when close to the inlet. It is found that the local Nusselt number is independent of the cross-sectional geometry at the channel inlet and the discrepancy of the local Nusselt number for different aspect ratios is gradually magnified along the streamwise direction. In consideration of the effects of Reynolds number and aspect ratio, new correlations are developed for actual Nusselt number and thermal entrance length of rectangular channels. A peak value of thermal entrance lengths can be discovered with the aspect ratio near 3. The present results may provide guidance for thermal design and optimization.

Experimental and numerical analysis on heat transfer performance of slug flow in rectangular microchannel

In this work, experimental and numerical studies are carried out on gas-liquid two phase flow in rectangular microchannels. The effect of different parameters on heat transfer performance is studied. The results from experiment and simulations show that a higher wall heat flux will enhance the heat transfer performance but a higher inlet temperature difference ΔT between gas and liquid has a negative effect on Nusselt number. It should also be noticed that the Nusselt number will reach its maximum value when void fraction β (=QG/(QG + QL)) is in the range of 0.2–0.4, and then decreases gradually when β is from 0.4 to 0.9. Moreover, Capillary number Ca, superficial velocity U, liquid film thickness δ* also contribute to the heat transfer performance and behavior.

Numerical study of slug flow heat transfer in microchannels

In the present paper, the heat transfer of slug flow in rectangular microchannels is studied numerically. The Al2O3-water nanofluid with the volume fraction of 1% is used as a homogeneous liquid. Three different configurations are considered to investigate the hydrodynamics and heat transfer in the microchannels. Boundary mesh adaptation method is used to capture the liquid film around gas bubbles. Slug flow characteristics are simulated with a very low computational time compared to previous researches. Slug and bubble lengths, liquid film properties, pressure drop, gas void fraction and heat transfer characteristics are studied. Results show that different inlet configurations impact on slug and bubble lengths. Gas hold-up is influenced by vortices and high frequency fluctuations that are created in the liquid film due to the difference between gas and slug acceleration. It is found that the Nusselt number is an increasing function of slug length and unit cell length. The results reveal that the hottest point on the wall is where the back tail vortex is generated. The nanofluid enhances the heat transfer coefficient by 10% in comparison with the pure water.

Unsteady gaseous Poiseuille slip flow in rectangular microchannels

Unsteady slip flow of an incompressible gaseous fluid in a rectangular microchannel subject to a sudden time-dependent pressure drop is investigated via the generalized integral transform method. Three novel analytical solutions of the governing partial differential equations corresponding to first- and second-order slip models are derived. These can be used in the experimental determination of the constant slip length for any fluid–solid combination. All unsteady flow patterns asymptotically reach the fully developed state for each problem considered in the present investigation.

Experimental study on gas and Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquid two-phase flow in rectangular micro-channel

Experimental study on gas and Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquid two-phase flow in rectangular micro-channel

The motion of long drops in rectangular microchannels at low capillary numbers

Drop flow in rectangular microchannels has been utilized extensively in microfluidics. However, the pressure-gradient versus flow-rate relation is still not well understood. We study the motion of a long drop in a rectangular microchannel in the limit the capillary number $Ca\rightarrow 0$ ($Ca=\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}U/\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}$, where $U$ is the constant drop velocity, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ is the viscosity of the carrier liquid and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70E}$ is the interfacial tension). In this limit, the moving drop looks like the static drop and has two end caps connected by a long column, which is surrounded by thin films on the microchannel wall and by menisci along the microchannel corners. Integral axial force balances on the drop fluid and on the carrier liquid surrounding the drop relate the carrier-liquid pressure gradient to the drop-fluid pressure gradient and the contact-line drag. The contact-line drag is argued to be the same as that for a long bubble (which has been determined by Wong et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 292, 1995b, pp. 95–110)) if the viscosity ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}\ll Ca^{-1/3}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}\ll L$, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}=\bar{\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$, $\bar{\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}}$ is the drop viscosity and $L~(\gg 1)$ is the dimensionless drop length. Thus, the force balances yield one equation relating the two pressure gradients. The two pressure gradients also drive unidirectional flows in the drop and in the corner channels along the long middle column. These coupled flows are solved by a finite-element method to yield another equation relating the two pressure gradients. From the two equations, we determine the pressure gradients and thus the unidirectional velocity fields inside and outside the drop for $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}=0$–100 and various microchannel aspect ratios. We find that in the limit $LCa^{1/3}\rightarrow 0$, the contact-line drag dominates and the carrier liquid bypasses the drop through the corner channels alongside the drop. For $LCa^{1/3}\gg 1$, the contact-line drag is negligible and the corner fluid is stationary. Thus, the drop moves as a leaky piston. We extend our model to a train of long drops, and compare our model predictions with published experiments.

Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of the Hydrodynamic Entrance Region of Rectangular Microchannels in the Slip Regime.

Developing a three-dimensional laminar flow in the entrance region of rectangular microchannels has been investigated in this paper. When the hydrodynamic development length is the same magnitude as the microchannel length, entrance effects have to be taken into account, especially in relatively short ducts. Simultaneously, there are a variety of non-continuum or rarefaction effects, such as velocity slip and temperature jump. The available data in the literature appearing on this issue is quite limited, the available study is the semi-theoretical approximate model to predict pressure drop of developing slip flow in rectangular microchannels with different aspect ratios. In this paper, we apply the lattice Boltzmann equation method (LBE) to investigate the developing slip flow through a rectangular microchannel. The effects of the Reynolds number (1 < Re < 1000), channel aspect ratio (0 < ε < 1), and Knudsen number (0.001 < Kn < 0.1) on the dimensionless hydrodynamic entrance length, and the apparent friction factor, and Reynolds number product, are examined in detail. The numerical solution of LBM can recover excellent agreement with the available data in the literature, which proves its accuracy in capturing fundamental fluid characteristics in the slip-flow regime.

The Detection of Water Flow in Rectangular Microchannels by Terahertz Time Domain Spectroscopy.

Flow characteristics of water were tested in a rectangular microchannel for Reynolds number (Re) between 0 and 446 by terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Output THz peak trough intensities and the calculated absorbances of the flow were analyzed theoretically. The results show a rapid change for Re < 250 and a slow change as Re increases, which is caused by the early transition from laminar to transition flow beginning nearly at Re = 250. Then this finding is confirmed in the plot of the flow resistant. Our results demonstrate that the THz-TDS could be a valuable tool to monitor and character the flow performance in microscale structures.

The Researching of Flow Characteristic of Rectangular Microchannel Flow with Different Geometry Parameters

In order to research flow characteristics for geometric parameters of microchannel, this paper made a flow test for different microchannel. The result told us that the hydraulic diameter was not only factor to affect fluid flow in microchannel, but also including depth, width can also affect fluid flow in microchannel. With the same as depth to width ratio, the decreasing of hydraulic diameter or length to diameter ratio can make mass flow value and P0 value increasing. On the other hand, with the same length to diameter and different width to diameter ratio of microchannel, decreasing of width to diameter ratio made increasing of mass flow value and P0 value. The results of this study showed that hydraulic, geometry size were all influencing fluid flow in microchannel.

The combination bounce back model for Lattice Boltzmann Method and its application on gas flow in micro machinery

Extensive study of micro flow in rectangular channel is considered and analyzed. Numerical studies are performed by Lattice Boltzmann Method. A new combination bounce back model for the treatment of solid boundary condition is proposed. Then, three solid boundary conditions are implemented in micro rectangular channel flow. These include non-slip bounce back rule, traditional combination bounce back rule and the proposed combination bounce back rule. It is observed that the width-to-height ratio (W/H) is the major influencing parameter for rectangular micro-channel flow in low Reynolds number. And, it is also found that the drag coefficient of traditional combination bounce back rule is maximum followed by those of the proposed combination bounce back rule and non-slip bounce back rule. In non-slip bounce back rule, particles bounce back alone the opposite direction when they collide with solid boundary node and it indicates maximum drag in the macro flow. In the traditional combination bounce back rule, some particles reflect based on mirror face with non-zero tangential solid velocity. It indicates that the tangential velocity of particles is same with its original velocity. And, this leads to the minimum drag. The proposed combination bounce back velocity is somewhere in between those of bounce back rule and first combination bounce back rule.